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Method

Sauté the shallots in a medium saucepan with the oil over a high heat for about 3 mins until lightly browned, stirring often. Season with ground black pepper and add the garlic and rosemary. Continue cooking for a further 3 mins, stirring often to prevent the shallots burning.

Pour in the vinegar and cook until evaporated away to a syrup, then pour in the wine and cook until reduced by two thirds.

Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until reduced by two-thirds again, to around 250ml. Remove the garlic and rosemary. Add a little salt to taste and finally 'monte' (whisk) in a knob of butter. Add any juices from the steaks just before serving.

I use this recipe with some brisket in the slow cooker and it makes the most yummy rich gravy to go with roasties or buttery mash, yorkshires and the meltingly tender beef. I make on the hob as per the recipe up to adding the red wine to the pan, at this point I take off the heat and then stir in a beef stock pot, with no water- a stock cube would probably do just as well. Then I simply transfer everything to the slow cooker, add my beef and cook on low for 8 hours. Once done I remove the beef and strain the liquid in to a pot and bubble until a nice consistency. So easy and family can't get enough.

Made this for go with herb crusted rack of lamb and it was perfect. I did strain it before adding stock to remove shallots but only because I wanted a smooth jus. Really good will definitely make it again.

It took me more then 2 full hours and a whole lotta faff but it was worth it. The best red wine sauce I've ever tasted. I've licked my plate clean, every inch of it.

I've used:regular onions since I had no shallots, aceto balsamico di modena IGP, chateau de Gorrichon Bordeaux superieur (4.5 quid, 75 cl) and homemade beef stock. After adding the wine and cooking it for about 10 min I've removed the rosemary and garlic, blended the sauce then shagged the rosemary and garlic back in again, then I've followed the rest of the recipe. I added at least a half tee spoon sugar (if not 1.5) and a good chunk of butter (more then 70 grams). Good luck all.

Quite good, I looked it up for the proportions. I replaced the initial olive oil with butter (grape seed oil would do) as I never cook on a high heat with olive oil to avoid that bitter taste. I sweated the sliced shallots first and then browned them until there was a brown gue on the bottom of the pan. I reduced the heat again to sweat the garlic rather than make that bitter too. I added the balsamic whilst the temp was low and used it to dissolve the gue before turning it up to caramelise it all. I reduced the red wine down to almost nothing. And I confess to using Oxo for my beef stock as I have no way of making my own. (and I don't like the prepped stuff in the supermarkets). I used fresh rosemary and found it fiddly to remove as it fell apart. All in all, it is OK but I think I might do better just muddling along without a recipe. (and I only wanted to make this as we had no blue cheese, or mushrooms to make my normal sauces for fillet steak)

Loved this recipe but found that it took nearer 50 minutes to reduce and even then I had to add a tiny amount of cornflour to thicken it. I also added half a teaspoon of redcurrant jelly to sweeten it a little before I passed it through a sieve. It tasted fabulous with Ramsay's beef wellington recipe as well, I'm just glad I started making the sauce 30 minutes before I put the wellington in the oven.

Mostly followed the recipe, used a quality Pukara Estate Black current Balsamic (2 &1/2 tbls) & a superb South Aussie Shiraz...bloody beautiful...only thing did differently was to press flavours through a sieve as we like a smooth sauce....served this with the tenderest Rump steak & went a bit retro & made a pocket, filling it with some plump Sydney rock oysters....Very nice indeed ...Thank you Gordon Ramsay :-)

This is close to a classic recipe, not a Gordon Ramsay 'special', so it's difficult to understand the negative comments. My suggestion would be....

Use echalion shallots, otherwise known as banana shallots., and fry these on a slightly lower heat initially (without colouring) for 5-7 minutes to release the sugars, then turn the heat up a little and brown slightly before continuing. This will ensure you don't get a bitter taste in the end result.

When you reduce the balsamic vinegar, do this to the point that the oil 'floats'. This will not look like a syrup in the pan; rather, it will look like lumpy brown bits mixed with the shallots in the pan. Then add the wine and follow the remaining instructions. If you reduce too far and get an overpowering 'jus' then just add a little water.

Personally, I prefer a smoother 'jus' so would put the end result through a fine sieve at the end of cooking. I also prefer a thicker 'jus', so rather than add a knob of butter, I would use the butter to make a small amount of roux (i.e. equal quantity of butter to flour) and then strain the reduction into this, cooking through to thicken.

Quality ingredients do matter, but you should still get a good quality 'jus' from using average quality balsamic vinegar and red wine. The type of grape (for the wine) can make a difference. I would typically use a Pinot Noir, which gives a slightly fruity 'jus'.

I was expecting the sauce to reduce to a nice, thick jus but instead it remained the same watery consistency throughout. After 40 mins of boiling away I was left with the 250ml as in the recipe but hadn't thickened in the slightest. Very bitter taste. Won't be following this recipe again.

I find it hard to understand the comments on the vinegar aspect. I made this and reduced the vinegar thoroughly before adding the wine, it was certainly not overpowering. Overall a hit but getting the reductions right was a lot of effort but overall everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. We paired it with the recipe for Tom Kerridge Black Treacle Beef and it was outstanding.

Having a big dinner party next week and gave this sauce a try last night to make sure it would be ok. We ate it with sirloin steak and it was absolutely gorgeous. I noticed, when reading the comments, that a few have said that they didn't like it...perhaps down to personal taste of the cooks but I would strongly suggest that the wine and balsamic vinegar HAVE to be very good quality....the balsamic vinegar is more important than the wine in my opinion.....don't forget who's giving you this recipe...Gordon Ramsay wouldn't use just any old cheap balsamic ! and yes, it does take longer to reduce than stated but you can make it in advance and just add the juices before warming it up

I agree with others on the vinegar front. It was all I could taste, however my father loved it, but the taste made me cringe. So glad I tasted before serving.
I will try this recipe once more, but cutting the vinegar down to 1 tbsp.
Served with Pan roasted duck breast, mashed potatoes and wilted asparagus.

Love this recipe....everyone keeps saying how much longer it takes than 20 mins but doesn't specify how long?! So I thought I'd let you all know, prep takes 10 mins with 55 mins of cooking, the sauce takes ages to reduce. Enjoy!

I made this sauce on Saturday night with some lovely steaks for a family meal,everyone loved it so I am making it again for friends to go with venison on Christmas Day. One think I did do different was I blended to smooth sauce so no bits from shallots. May add some blackberries for a variation.

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